


When we're not a giant robot

by AutumnSun



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, One Shot Collection, One Word Prompts, Platonic Relationships, Tags to be added as needed, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-01
Updated: 2017-09-01
Packaged: 2018-12-22 14:40:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11969484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AutumnSun/pseuds/AutumnSun
Summary: A series of one-shots based on fifty prompts (or that's the goal) about the team. Pre-series and during.001: Truth - She knows the Garrison is lying about Kerberos. (Pidge)002: Company - She doesn't mean to think it. (Pidge, Lance)





	1. Truth (Katie Holt)

Keith walks out of the Garrison and into the desert on a gut feeling.

But Katie is a Holt. She doesn’t deal in the inclinations of the gut or the heart or anything that isn’t her mind. She knows the Garrison was lying about Kerberos. It is not just a feeling, not desperation and, she all but spits out, "it's not _grief_."

She pours over Garrison procedures, goes over those nights spent studying the mission with Matt and dad, she's looks into behaviors of liars and studies stories on blogs and she _knows_ they are lying.

Her mother doesn't see it.

It’s been a month since Kerberos. Katie is standing with her bag on her shoulder, a photo in her pocket and a handful of cash hidden in her socks. She's been saving up for some upgrades to her laptop, but none of those matters now. Her hands curl around the railing of their front porch, the old paint peeling off under her fingers and all she can think of is a week ago today.

Sitting in her room eating breakfast. An idea beginning to take root in her mind. A flurry of _well I could_ \- _maybe I can_ \- and she stands to find her mom. 

Half thought out plans and words stumbling from her lips, "I'm leaving."

She tightens her grip on the railing. Her mom's tears are an unwanted sight in her memory and she closes her eyes to will them away.

Her mom thinks Katie is going to a school that is a few days train ride from home. Some place renowned for its research on supercomputers; a safe place where she would be firmly and forever on Earth and lost into the endless void of space.

Lost, Katie tells herself as she draws in a deep breath, the cool air settling into her lungs. Not dead.

Katie lets go of the railing. Her mom will be back soon from work and will see her off on a train headed in the opposite direction of the Galaxy Garrison.

The whole facade makes the trip to the Garrison a little longer, but Katie won't be deterred.

She knows they are lying and she will not stop until she finds the truth.


	2. Company (Pidge, Lance)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She doesn't mean to think it.

She doesn’t mean to think it.

She's on the training deck with her back to a wall as she nurses her bruised side where the gladiator landed a mean kick.

She's been testing out the changes she made to her arm shield and while everything worked just fine earlier in the lab, here the shield glitched and disappeared right as the gladiator launched itself towards her.

Really, she should have asked Lance or Keith to try it out. 

Well, she thinks as she frowns, maybe not Keith. He probably wouldn't be able to stand still and just let the gladiator hit him which would defeat the purpose of testing a shield.

Lance would have been a good pick, but he's busy helping Coran.

Pidge exhales loudly and hunches over, resting an elbow on her leg and balancing her chin on her fist. Even if she had asked someone else, the test still would have failed. Here, in the safety of the Castle, it's not a huge deal, but on the battle field that glitch could get her or her friends killed.

Pidge pokes at the machinery at her wrist, frustration bubbling up her throat. She'll have to consult Hunk after him and Allura return from their mission.

The edges of her mouth quirk up. It's nice to have someone to consult. 

One of the more difficult parts about her stint at the Garrison was that she didn't have anyone to turn to when she was stuck on a computer program or a modification wasn't turning out the way it was supposed to. She tried to keep her distance from everyone and now that she thinks about it, Hunk would have been super useful that time she tried to get a droid to walk into the teachers' lounge and get a cup of real coffee. Normally, of course, she'd ask Matt -

Pidge sucks in a short breath.

It's moments like these that are the worst. Ones where she is thinking about everyday things and her mind goes to Matt and her dad and mom and then - bam! - she remembers they're not here and they may never be here again.

The training deck's doors slide open. "Pidge! I just had the best idea!"

Pidge hastily swipes at her eyes. "Lance?"

Lance, holding up a mop and a bucket, stops mid-step. His arms drop and the excitement slides away to concern. "Pidge? Are you okay?"

“Oh, I –” Pidge begins, gathering her things, ready to placate him and leave, but she hesitates. With Shiro gone, she sometimes struggles to remember that this isn't like the Garrison. She doesn't have to close herself off. She slumps against the wall. "Just thinking about home," she says quietly, " and about my family."

"Oh." Lance's voice is soft and he awkwardly rubs the back of his neck. Or tries to. The mop stabs him before he can complete the motion. "Do you want some company?"

Pidge shrugs her shoulders and gestures to what he's holding. "You're not busy?"

"Hey," he says with an easy grin, tossing both mop and bucket aside, "so far I'm the only one to ever use it. Someone else can take a turn."

Pidge can't help but smirk. "That's because it's your fault we have one. You're the one who complained about Altean cleaning practices and you're the one who pointed out the mop to Coran and said it was used on Earth for cleaning."

Lance drops down beside her and throws his arms up. "That's not fair! I was complaining that we had to clean _at all_. Not about _how_ things got clean."

Pidge almost laughs but her eyes go back to her wrist and her mind back to its thoughts and she falls silent quickly.

"Tell me about them."

Pidge glances over at Lance and then away. "I wouldn't know where to start," she admits.

Lance rolls his eyes. "Start at the beginning, then. We have time; Keith is still going over all the rules for the Skell people that he and Allura have to meet. Did you know they have rules for how long your fingernails can be? I know because I heard him yelling about it." And there is the smile Lance was hoping for. "Besides," he rests a hand on her should and squeezes it. "You owe me."

She snorts. "How do I _owe_ you?"

"I've told you about my family plenty of times, now you tell me about yours."

Her expression softens. "Okay,” she says after a beat of silence, “but only if you’ll be my and Hunk's lab rat once we have a chance to work on the shields."

Lance slides his arm around her neck and pulls her into a sideways hug. "We can test it out in a food fight! My superior marksmanship skills paired with your and Hunk's supershield against Keith and his dumb sword."

Pidge does laugh this time, even as she elbows him in the side to free herself. "Didn't he get you with the Olkari spores that time?"

Lance scoffs. "Lucky shot!" But he moves his arm to let her sit at a comfortable distance. "But seriously, you can tell me whatever you want about your family."

Pidge looks back to the floor. Her wrist. And her fingers twitch for the familiar feeling of a photo she never goes anywhere without. She curls them into fists at her knees.

"It doesn't have to be everything," he says, "or today, or at all, if that's what you want." He reaches for her hand and folds his on top of hers. "Just, you know, I'm here for you. We're all here for you."

Her eyes are watering again but instead of tightness in her chest, there is warmth. She opens her fists. "Thank you."


End file.
